Athletic Department Debt

[wcbsas]

Because they don't have Husker Volleyball and Baseball.

Most schools have thriving attendance at football and maybe men's basketball games, and the rest of the athletic department is a massive money pit. All the cash drained by gymnastics, rifle team, bowling, and so forth cannot be offset by a semi-profitable football team.

At Nebraska, many of our "lesser" sports bring in some revenue to help pay for themselves. And Husker football saves everyone's bacon.

At places like Ohio State or Texas, they make a ton on football... and then spend it on football; wrestling be damned.

Inside Buckeye athletics, the rich get richer (Football) and the poor get poorer (Track & Field, etc).

Inside Cornhusker athletics, the middle class (Bowling) make decent-ish money and the rich (Football) pay for everything else.

Nebraska is middle of the pack in B1G in terms of revenue … even with sports (volleyball and baseball) that generate above average revenues. Volleyball makes a bit of money (not a lot) and baseball loses money.

tOSU brings in $80M (50%) more in revenue and they have 8 more men’s sports (18) than NU. They’re not just spending it on football.

 

[Purple Prof]

NU is one of the few athletic departments that pushes money back into their university’s pockets.

 

[TFrazier]

Great find Professor.

And I am sure the Nebraska Athletic Department made the decision to do this all on their own.

 

[TFrazier]

I’ve never heard that. What’s “required” and who’s requiring it?

It took a little digging and this article is from 2011 but it shows how money was transferred from the athletic department to support the university academics per an agreement.

Who knows if the agreement has been modified since 2011 but look at the tweet posted by @Purple Prof just above about the 10 million dollar transfer. It is pretty apparent that something is still in place as of 2022.

UNL's self-supporting athletic department contributes funds to university academics

An ‘N' may be worth one point in the board game Scrabble, but in Nebraska, that same letter means millions.

www.dailynebraskan.com

 

[wcbsas]

It took a little digging and this article is from 2011 but it shows how money was transferred from the athletic department to support the university academics per an agreement.

Who knows if the agreement has been modified since 2011 but look at the tweet posted by @Purple Prof just above about the 10 million dollar transfer. It is pretty apparent that something is still in place as of 2022.

UNL's self-supporting athletic department contributes funds to university academics

An ‘N' may be worth one point in the board game Scrabble, but in Nebraska, that same letter means millions.

www.dailynebraskan.com

Interesting article.
There are certainly logical extensions … supporting the UNL Band, support services (legal ..) that are connected to the athletic department … nevertheless I’m not sure there is a formal agreement or requirement that things be done. They’re probably expected having done these things over time.

I think NU doing these things certainly sets itself apart and also shows the fiscal prudence not many athletic departments have. I still wonder whether there is an opportunity loss by not using these funds elsewhere as other athletic departments do.

 

[jpmandm]

Given the sparse population of the state, I think it is understood that if we are going to play in the big leagues it is up to private boosters to make that happen. It's been this way for so long if Alberts had to go hat in hand to the regents and they to the legislature, it would not be a good look. That said, there's such a thing as being too conservative. At some point you're leaving opportunities on the table.

 

[wcbsas]

Given the sparse population of the state, I think it is understood that if we are going to play in the big leagues it is up to private boosters to make that happen. It's been this way for so long if Alberts had to go hat in hand to the regents and they to the legislature, it would not be a good look. That said, there's such a thing as being too conservative. At some point you're leaving opportunities on the table.

Thank you!